Interview Questions for a Copywriter
Interview a copywriter by testing how they write persuasive, conversion-focused copy, develop a distinctive brand voice, and craft headlines and hooks that earn attention. Assess audience and message research, ad, email, and landing-page work, self-editing, and copy optimization through testing. Strong candidates bring a portfolio showing range and results and write to a reader's real motivations, not just clever lines.
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Run this interview around real copy the candidate wrote, asking who it was for, what it was meant to do, and how it performed. The best copywriters research audiences, sharpen a single clear message, adapt tone across channels while keeping the brand coherent, and edit ruthlessly. Probe their instinct for persuasion and their openness to data and feedback.
Technical & Role-Specific
What to look for: Audience and offer research, a single clear value proposition, persuasive structure, a strong hook, and a clear call to action — not just polished prose.
What to look for: Real research methods (voice-of-customer, reviews, interviews), identifying pains and desires, and writing in the reader's language rather than the brand's jargon.
What to look for: A voice framework or guidelines, keeping the brand coherent while shifting tone for ads, email, and landing pages appropriately.
What to look for: Clarity and specificity over cleverness, leading with value or curiosity, generating many options, and testing rather than trusting the first idea.
What to look for: Understanding the action it must drive, urgency and proof, addressing objections, and a clear CTA — with awareness of when each style fits.
What to look for: Cutting filler, sharpening the hook, reading aloud, tightening to one message, and a real editing discipline rather than first-draft delivery.
Behavioral & Past Experience
What to look for: A clear audience and goal, a thoughtful approach, and ideally a measurable result like conversion or engagement.
What to look for: Comfort with A/B testing, willingness to let data beat instinct, and applying the learning to future work.
What to look for: Separating ego from the work, openness to feedback, and iterating to a stronger result.
What to look for: Versatility, studying the brand voice, and producing on-brand work even when it wasn't their default style.
Situational & Problem-Solving
What to look for: Examining the headline, value prop, audience match, objections, and CTA, and forming testable hypotheses rather than rewriting blindly.
What to look for: Advocating for one clear message, explaining why focus converts, and proposing a way to honor priorities without diluting impact.
What to look for: Rapid targeted research, finding voice-of-customer sources, and being honest about assumptions to validate.
What to look for: Considering brand fit, downstream metrics, statistical confidence, and not overclaiming a difference that isn't there.
Collaboration & Culture
What to look for: Working from the same concept, copy and design reinforcing one message, and flexibility when layout constraints affect the words.
What to look for: Anchoring to the audience and goal, prioritizing feedback by impact, and steering toward the strongest version rather than averaging everyone's edits.
What to look for: Shared voice guidelines, examples, and editing for coherence across contributors.
What to look for: Aligning on the goal and audience up front, defining what success looks like, and tying copy decisions to conversion or engagement outcomes.
Copywriter interview scorecard
Score every candidate on the same criteria, immediately after the interview, using evidence you actually heard rather than an overall impression. Agree the criteria with the panel before the first interview — deciding what counts after you have met people is how the loudest interviewer wins the debrief.
| Criterion | Evidence to record | Score 1-5 |
|---|---|---|
| Technical & Role-Specific | What the candidate actually said or did, in their own example — not your impression of it | 1 2 3 4 5 |
| Behavioral & Past Experience | What the candidate actually said or did, in their own example — not your impression of it | 1 2 3 4 5 |
| Situational & Problem-Solving | What the candidate actually said or did, in their own example — not your impression of it | 1 2 3 4 5 |
| Collaboration & Culture | What the candidate actually said or did, in their own example — not your impression of it | 1 2 3 4 5 |
| Overall recommendation | Strong no / no / mixed / yes / strong yes, with the single reason that decided it | - |
Want this as a reusable document? Use the interview scorecard template.
Questions to avoid asking a Copywriter
Exactly which questions are unlawful depends on where you are hiring, and the rules change — so treat this as the list of topics to route through your own employment counsel, not as a legal standard. The practical test that holds everywhere: if the answer could not change how the person does this job, you have no reason to ask it.
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Frequently asked questions
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